Stick to the crowd
by caringiscreepy15
Summary: Just an idea I had to get in writing. Lemme know if I should contine.
1. Welcome to a new kind of tension

It's funny that 'how are you' is all it takes to get me going.

"I'm nervous; I don't think I've ever been this nervous before. Well, except that time in Disneyland when I was on Splash Mountain and absolutely convinced that I would fall out to my impending death on the jagged fake rocks below while flying down that massive waterfall of doom, but this is a close second; nose and nose or whatever. But I think I had good reason for that one too, I mean, really, no seven year old should ever have to experience such trauma and still be expected to grow and function normally. So forgive me for not being overwhelmed with enthusiasm… okay; my tendency of overly sarcastic rambling frustrates some people, so I'll try to fill you in using the least amount of words I can: I'm going to Sky High... Okay, screw few words. I'm going to a school for super heroes – and their brains… or sidekicks, whichever name you like – who will grow up to save – or take over, whichever is their forte – the world. This wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for these few facts.

A) My power sucks, b) my twin brother is embarrassing, and c) if I do manage to live through my treacherous teenage years, I plan on hiding away as a bum, or the male equivalent of a crazy cat lady, depending on if my allergies go away. Anyways, back to the point of me freaking out. I'm leaving in less than an hour to go meet an excessively large group of adolescents who will grow up to do great things while I'm hoping I can manage okay things. You see how this could be a problem. Oh, plus also I'm a sophomore, meaning that I'll either pretend I know where I'm going like all the other sophomores, cling to my brother and his annoyingly preppy friends, or be stuck getting shown around with the freshies. Even if I hadn't been attending a school for the abnormal and overachieving, it still would have been scary.

And to top it all off, I'm only going because of Zach, the aforementioned brother; Once again, here I am rambling when you haven't been updated, so I'll recap. When Zach and I were born we were given up for adoption because our real parents simply weren't ready for the huge responsibility of having a family, even though they loved us with all their hearts. Although that is a huge load of crap, that's what the social worker told us when we asked why we were going to live with people we had never met. I hate how strangers are always at the top of the 'things to avoid' list except at Christmas when little kids are forced to sit in some random fat pedophile's lap, and when you're an orphan. Okay, now that I have successfully managed to steer the story in a completely insignificant and pointless direction, I'll finish explaining. This is our most recent foster home – one we've been at for just over a year, which – for us – is a record. When they adopted us from the MOFS – Maxville orphanage for supers – they decided to send me to a school that would 'help me embrace the heroic journey that lies ahead.' Or, at least that's what the pamphlet said. So, I went to Sea High and Zach went to Sky High; but this year they decided – for Zach's sake – to put us in the same school.

You see, the thing is, I might actually be able to let myself get a little excited if Zach wasn't so detailed in his explanation of the school… and by detailed I mean horrifying… and by school I mean resident assholes, Speed and Lash. Zach told me that if it wasn't for his friend Will, he would have spent every single lunch hour of his freshman year in a cramped locker. Of course at first I shrugged him off as being dramatic – which he is – until I watched the bullies' trial… yeah, pause for dramatic effect there, on television, a channel we were allowed to have because of being supers. Anyways, man were they intimidating. I'd have to say the chubby chunk of irony more so; on account of if he sat on me I'd die. Okay, quick u turn back to my family. When I was ten, I found every article I could on my real mother. She was a super villain named Mix whose powers were that she could make anything opposite – which sucks, because when Zach and I were born, we were automatically exact opposites in every way. He's tan, I'm pale; his hair is practically white, mine couldn't be blacker. His eyes are light blue, mine are dark green. He's healthy, I'm… well, not so much. All our foster parents tell us we're like magnets, opposites, but best friends – at least most of the time. I should tell you a bit more about my foster parents. My foster dad's name is Kelly, and his husband's name is Anna… just kidding, Anna is his wife. When we looked at the names of our next parents, we thought we were being adopted by a lesbian couple.

They decided that, being millionaires, they might as well adopt supers, because it's more expensive to educate and medicate them. My theory – pessimistic, like all good ones – is that they were hoping to adopt two kids with glamorous super powers who could become part of a new glamorous family that would do glamorous things together in their glamorous mansion, but instead they got me and Zach. And let me tell you, we are about as glamorous as faded green smocks. Back to the current dilemma; school. You see, going to school would mean me leaving this room, and let me tell you, I am about as ready to come out as an eighty year old Catholic man… not that eighty is too old to change one's sexuality, it's just that – especially in a religion like that – it would be a very awkward and uncomfortable thing to express – for everyone around – almost something worth procrastinating." I finish my sentence and take a deep breath, casually glancing at the response I'm getting from the new in house therapist Anna and Kelly hired for me – my last one had a bit of a meltdown. She is just about to open her mouth and spew out some confidence enhancing crap, I can tell, but is interrupted by a banging at the door.

"Jake, come on, we have to go!" Zach sounds like a six year old with bladder control issues when he's impatient, and little kids freak me out, so I'm leaving.

"Bye Mrs…" Crap, I already forgot her name.

"Mrs. Evans." Riiight; Mrs. Evans is giving me one of those tight lipped smiled that really shows off the cat's bum mouth she has from obvious perpetual smoking, which is my cue to leave. Nodding my head to make it seem like I am sorry for wasting her time, I quickly shut the door behind me and slid down the banister, knocking over Zach, who was waiting for me right on the bottom step – good place, I must say. He's standing there absentmindedly chewing on a bagel – obviously prepared by Sheldon, the chef. My stomach is grumbling, so I shove past him and walk into the dining room, sitting myself down on a stool that is facing the bar.

"Hey Jake, how's the new shrink?" It's so amusing talking to Sheldon, because his name makes me think of some scrawny kid with scotch tape on the bridge of his glasses, but he's actually a six and a half food tall ex convict who has more tattoos than that guy from Miami Ink. You know… the one with the girl name. Anyways, Sheldon is one of the most fun people to go in public with, because he is a certified genius, but people look at him like he's about to pull out a machine gun and hold up whichever store we happen to be in; and he knows me almost too well.

"No idea." I can tell by the knowing smirk on his face he knows exactly what went on.

"Let me guess, she asked you how you were, or to tell her a little about you and you ranted until Zach came and told you to leave."

"Yeah, pretty much." I see Sheldon's shoulders shaking as he walks back into the kitchen. He's the kind of guy that rarely laughs, but always chuckles; very easygoing; and I know exactly what he's going to bring out. Half a grapefruit in a bowl – sprinkled with sugar, 9 pills, and a mug of OJ. Sure enough, here he comes, the usual smirk plastered on his face, carrying a tray with the grapefruit, juice, and a small plate of pills. Nodding towards the pills is my way of asking why there are more than nine. I don't usually like to talk, unless I'm nervous, in which case I… well, you saw my therapist.

"The test results came back; you do have iron deficiency anemia and an underproductive thyroid." Damn. 13 pills in total for me to take; grimacing, I swallow them with a big gulp of juice, and start on my grapefruit. I love how long it took Zach to realize I had knocked into him, although he was obviously very engrossed in the bagel, something I couldn't have because of the countless things that were wrong with my body.

"Hey, why'd you hit me?" He sits down and nods his smiling face towards Sheldon quickly, saying hello, and then ditches the smile to look back at me. It's funny how we both use body language almost more than we use words. I give him the usual furrowed brow and shrug, telling him that it was obviously an accident, and he's dumb. He nods slowly, and Sheldon chuckles. We're so predictable it hurts. "So are you excited about coming to Sky High with me?" Raised eyebrow. "Oh come on, it won't be that bad." Eyebrow still up. "Hey, Speed and Lash are still in prison." He's trying so hard to sound convincing, so I give in and raise the other eyebrow too, earning a grin almost too big for his face. One aspect of our extreme opposite outward appearances I am happy about is that while Zach has acne and had to wear braces for three years, I have good skin and good teeth; although… I would trade both for good health, which he has to an extreme… the kid's never even had a cold. "Okay, so we really have to go now. Thanks for breakfast Sheldon." Zach is getting up to leave, so I quickly down my orange juice and put my empty dishes on the tray, automatically reaching out and grabbing the thermos of coffee Sheldon is holding out for me. Looking over at Zach, I see he is raising his left hand while digging through his bag with his right, and Sheldon drops our lunch money in his palm; I love routines. I grab my messenger bag, hilariously opposite to Zach's yellow backpack, and we head out towards the entryway.

"Bye boys, have fun at school!" Anna is waving glamorously from the second floor. You see, in the entryway there is a giant staircase that leads all the way up to the fifth floor, branching out at every stop. The first floor is your average living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room. The second floor is Anna and Kelly's, the third floor is ours, the fourth floor is the guest floor, and the fifth floor is where the chef, maid, butler, gardener, chauffer and therapist live. I love the way the house is shaped, because you can slide down the banister right from the fifth floor to the main floor – although Sheldon said that I shouldn't be sliding that far down because my frail body would blah blah blah. Anyways, Kelly said that if we get another floor added on, we'll get an elevator… the mall here doesn't even have an elevator. Zach is dragging me across the walkway, muttering something about how the bus only waits for Will Stronghold. One nice thing about having a big property is that there is a bus stop right beside the gate leading into the driveway, so we don't have to run to catch it… which is good, because I have asthma. Of course, being the worry wart he is, Zach is making me practically jog down the driveway, even though the bus isn't even here yet. I walk right past Zach as he closes the gate – we always fight over who gets to press all the buttons, because we're just that mature – and the bus is just pulling up. Of course this means that now I have to make my decision. Do I act like I've done this all before, do I sit by myself and pray no freaks sit beside me, or do I sit with Zach and meet all his friends? Well, being the brace, bold, daring, adventurous guy I am, I think I'll… sit with Zach. Luckily for me, Zach is sitting in an empty seat, so I can sit down next to him. Even hearing his friends and their excited chatter gives me migraines… so, I've never actually seen them – other than Will on various talk shows with his parents telling the world about villains, the newest trio, and spandex… all that important stuff – but anyways, that's only because I lock myself in the other room whenever they come over.

"Woahh…" Will and his posse are staring at me like I'm wearing a bikini – which I most certainly am not – but I'm used to it; me and Zach don't tell our friends we have an opposite but otherwise exact replica of ourselves… no one should have to ask why.

"Guys, this is my brother Jake." I attempt to smile at them, but I just can't, and it comes out as a sort of grimace. Besides, the hippy girl is smiling enough for both of us. I'm surprised her lips aren't splitting in half. Speaking of which, I should put on my lip chap. It's frustrating that whenever anyone meets us for the first time, it's always silence followed by the same obvious questions. Wait for it, three, two…

"Were you guys born like that?" This one is coming from the scary purple kid who thinks she's goth. I think she's the one Zach 'went out with.' And by that I mean danced with her once at homecoming and bragged about it for weeks afterwards.

"What was you're mother's power?" Of course Will is the one to ask about parents and powers.

"Zach, did you dye your hair?" Okay, this one I haven't heard. But then again, I've never seen someone wear bright orange from head to toe.

"That's weird." So is your hair man, what are you, thirty?

Last but not least… "Is it fun being an opposite?" Of course the hippy asks this one.

I figure I might as well say something, so as to avoid annoying rumors. "Yes, one guess, no, I know, and sometimes." Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, as Zach is now glaring at me with all his might. "You're burning a hole in my face." He rolls his eyes, and I can tell he's about to come up with some lame excuse for why his brother is so incredibly unfriendly. But hey, I don't make friends – that's what therapists are for.

"Don't mind Jake." Wow, that was probably the worst excuse he's ever come up with, although it isn't really an excuse at all. Zach is holding out a piece of chewing gum to me, and the way his head is slanted forward I can tell he expects me to eat it right now. Zach responds before I can even raise my eyebrow all the way. "Trust me." He jerks his head to the window, and I can see now that we're headed for… nowhere. Oh man; we're going to die. Quickly popping the gum in my mouth, I start chewing like mad before my ears start to pop, earning a few odd stares from Zach's friends. Someone should inform them that before they stare oddly at anyone, they should take a look at themselves. They're like the freaking poster kids for stereotypes. We have the all American momma's boy; vegetarian since birth, wannabe goth, biker who doesn't actually bike, and smart preppy kid whose mother buys him the exact same clothes in different colors. Zach fits in perfectly with them. A chuckle escapes my lips, but is cut short – I think my insides just fell. Feeling a little brave, I glance out the window… and I thought I was freaked out before. Well, before I wasn't ten thousand feet in the air! I quickly put my head in between my knees, just like my doctor told me to. While Zach is stiff and quite awkward with his movements – especially when he dances, I am flexible, which comes in handy in situations like this. My breathing starts to delay and I feel a panic attack coming on. Crap; luckily when I look up Zach's holding out my inhaler. Grabbing it, I take a few deep breaths and move my head back down. I can hear Zach vaguely explaining my medical and mental issues to his friends, but I couldn't really any care less right now. Once the bus driver starts explaining to 'you freshmen' at the front of the bus about the school, I dare to raise my head and look out the window again. Okay, so now if the engine fails, instead of plummeting down to our doom in an abyss that is the air above the Metropolis of Maxville, we would simply fall a few feet and land on the school, although with my luck, I'd still somehow end up in a coma. I straighten up and look around me, realizing with much relief that I wasn't the only one freaking out. The freshies in the front have that wide eyed, wide mouthed look on their faces as they scream to each other about 'oh my gawd, how totally effing scary was that!'

"Is he okay?" The high pitched voice snaps me back to reality and I see that Zach is holding out the inhaler once again. I take it and get a few more breaths of air before reassuring the overly concerned motherly teenagers that yes, I am fine and yes, that does happen to me all the time. Thankfully, the hippy doesn't speak again until we are inside the school. "So Jake, we'll take you to power placement – I have to warn you, Boomer is really hard on all the new kids, but just show him your power and be really sweet about it and he won't be any trouble. Unless you don't believe in slightly gender favoring fascist stereotypes, in which case you can just tell him you won't participate." The hopefulness is dripping from her voice, almost enough to guilt me into not participating. But that would require drawing even more attention to myself, something just below 'die' on the list of things I would like to do. Will is taking over the explanation of power placement, but he doesn't get very far.


	2. all across the alien nation

"Jake Switch?" I make my way up to the unnecessarily large stage as quickly and quietly as I can. "What's your shtick?" I decided to demonstrate rather than explain, in the hopes that this painful process will be over as soon as possible. Shutting my eyes, I concentrate as hard as I can until I have become a shadow. That's another thing about us that's opposite; Zach can glow, and I can become a shadow. I wince as I become solid once again – it's always pretty painful. The wince doesn't go away as I wait for him to tell me – well, more like announce to everyone in the school – that I'm a sidekick. "Hero." What! I can't even move from my spot; he said hero! And he didn't scream it! Oh my goodness, this must be a dream; how on earth could becoming a shadow make me worthy of saving the world? Before I can ruin everything by asking him why, I shove my lead based feeling legs down the stairs and right into Zach, who's waiting with open arms.

"Dude, you made hero; that's awesome!" He gives me one of those manly hugs. You know, 'I'm hugging ya, but I'm hittin' ya!' So it's less wimpy. Although, the manliness doesn't last very long, and the hugging and hitting turns into a full fledged bear hug – almost knocking the wind out of me. "Man, Boomer made me a sidekick, even after I helped save the school." I figure I might as well come up with something before Zach starts on his rant about how he and prep and goth helped save the school and they should be heroes too. I bump him with my elbow and look at the sheet I have, one half for if I made hero, and one half for sidekick. Zach starts muttering to himself about how 'no one even wants to hear the story' but quickly calls the momma's boy and whispers something about being my 'mentor.' Fat chance!

"Hey Jake, class is about to start, so why don't you come with Warren and I, we'll be in the same class." Me and Zach have a little handshake we do for good luck, and afterwards I left with Will and the guy who looks thirty. I can't help but gawk at the school; it's so modern looking… and clean. Although I remember Zach telling me that the janitor is a sidekick who didn't get placed with a hero after his graduation. His powers are sucking up garbage; man, I'd love to have that power… only not. This school is a lot bigger then Sea High. And our janitor was a student's dad – he didn't have any powers but the principal felt bad for him.

"Oh Will, Warren – there you are." We didn't even get to the end of the hallway before getting stopped by… the principal, I think. She sounds relieved.

"Yes principal Powers, what is it?" Coughsuckupcough.

"I thought you two should be the first to know that Speed and Lash are coming back to finish their senior year. The prison guards are dropping them off at lunch. I figured you deserved to know before the other students, but please don't tell anyone – their experience in prison has changed them quite a bit, Speed especially, and I want them to feel like they are allowed to have a fresh start."

"But principal Powers, they're… villains!" Will says the word like it's a bad taste in his mouth, and Warren's fists are on fire – maybe I won't share my stereotyped views with him. Even tiny little burns are enough to make me go to the hospital. It's embarrassing, but sudden or large amounts of pain make me pass out… one of the many 'tough' qualities I have.

"Will, I am aware of the bad decision they made, but they would like a fresh start. Speed has completely reformed and will be attending just like a regular student, and Lash will have detention at lunch, just as a precaution." She's looking at me as if I just appeared. "Oh hello Zach – how is your first day as a sophomore going? Oh, and please don't tell anyone about Speed and Lash coming ba…."

"I'm Jake." She looks a little disappointed.

"Oh… wow, have you met Zach? He's a student here as well and you two have a striking resemblance."

"Jake and Zach are twins – there mom's powers made them opposite from birth." It'll be good having Will around to answer stupid questions. Man, I'm starting to wish my power was becoming invisible, because next to Zach – where I'll be glued until I'm convinced to make friends – I stick out like… well, like an opposite. And the last think I need are more bruises from being shoved in a locker. Although, I don't have enough red blood cells in my system, so I bruise really easily. That bear hug is probably going to give me a bruise.

"Jake, are you okay?" The amount of sincere concern in Will's voice makes me feel guilty, as I care about him near as much as I care about my breakfast, probably even less. Shaking off his question, I follow Warren, who – still half on fire – kept walking to the classroom. Will is lifting himself off the air to float after us. I hate how his powers will actually be useful when fighting villains. All I'll be able to do is hide… and even then my shadow can be seen if you look close enough. As we walk into the classroom, Will and Warren walk over to talk to the… holy mackerel! Is that even a man? Oh, I get it; it's a costume, ha ha.

"Students, this is your new classmate, Jake Switch; Jake, why don't you quickly tell us a little bit about yourself?" I hate this part.

Tearing my eyes away from the head, I shakily introduce myself. "Uh, I'm Jake – my power is to become a shadow, my last school was Sea School, and I have a twin brother named Zach." I say the same thing every time, but it never seems to get any easier. Will is sitting in the very front row, so I follow Warren to the back – so as to draw a little less attention to myself. The class is all introductions and pathetic jokes. I think it's in the teacher's code: 'all jokes that are actually funny must be kept to oneself.' By the time everyone in the class has said a little bit about themselves and pretended to laugh at Mr. Medulla's jokes, class is over. I've already made a list of people to stay away from – including a girl who sucks energy from you – I need all of the little energy I have – and a guy who can make you say what you're thinking out loud – I'd never shut up. I tentatively stand up – ready to timidly ask Warren where I should go next when Will bounced up from nowhere… or his desk.

"Alright Jake, we have hero history and then lunch! Follow me right this way!" As we walk to the class, Will is pointing out different things like the cafeteria, washrooms, lockers – he'll help me find mine after class – and emergency exits. I guess mad science was when he decided whether or not to play tour guide Barbie. Hero history has a similar start – minus two head sizes. The teacher – Mrs. Tex – lets me do my little introduction from my seat in the back. Mrs. Tex looks so familiar, I can't believe it. She has a motherly look to her, even though she is obviously quite young. I can't say I paid much attention to any of that class; I spent most of it thinking of where I know the teacher from, and wishing some kid with time travel would make us skip through lunch. Unfortunately my wishing was to no avail, and lunch came before I could say 'this school is overwhelming' followed by Will dragging me to me locker.

"Okay, so we'll drop off your stuff and then go meet everyone in the cafeteria." Of course it's just my luck that the lock doesn't work and Will refuses to 'destroy anymore school property' so we end up having to go all the way back to the office, where Will explains my current situation, and the secretary practically swoons before letting us go see Mrs. Powers. Taking a look around, my knees buckle and I can feel myself starting to fall. Luckily Will is standing close and catches me before I can actually fall. "Holy cow Jake, how much do you weigh?" I'm too afraid to mention shamefully that I weigh less than one hundred pounds, because standing in the office is none other then Speed and Lash. Surprisingly, Lash is the only one of the two wearing handcuffs. Power's is shooting Will one of those 'get-the-freshie-out-of-here-before-he-melts-with-fear looks that are supposed to go unnoticed – so I stand up as straight as I can and try to wipe the look of utter terror off my face; which is, by the way, a lot harder then it sounds. "Principal Powers, Jake's lock won't open, and I think it's the wrong combination." Will's jaw is clenched, and his hands are tightly curled into fists – I can't believe he just noticed who was in the room. But he is obviously pretty mad. Odd observation number two: Lash is smirking away like he's having the time of his life watching Will get uncomfortable, but Speed's only glanced up long enough for me to catch the look of remorse on his chubby face.

"Alright, give me a moment." Principal Powers massages her temples as she leaves, and slams the door behind her. I really hope this isn't the part of the story where I die. Lash is getting out of his chair and slowly walking towards me and Will. Man, he's taller then he looks on television – he must be around 6'4.

"Hey Stronghold, come to welcome me back?" Will's jaw and fists are still clenched tight – that must be getting sore.

"Welcome you?" He's trying so hard to stay calm it's almost making me smirk. "You tried to take over the school and turn everyone into babies!"

Lash is looking thoughtfully up at the ceiling. "Yeah, another brilliant idea by Sue Tenny; I said we should just kill everyone. I mean, how were we going to raise a bunch of villain babies?" Will's hands are rapidly turning white, and I really hope they don't go fisty cuffs; there's no way I'd survive.

"Sorry about that Jake, your locker combination was mixed up with Speed's." Principal Powers is holding out a small slip of paper to me, and I take it slowly as she ushers all of us – minus Lash – out of the room. Will starts rushing ahead, but I figure I'll catch up eventually.

"Will!" Speed is… speeding to catch up with Will, and manages to stop him in the middle of the hallway. "Look Will, you have no idea how sorry I am for what I did last year. I realize it was putting a lot of people's lives and hard work at risk just to gain a little more power. I want to honestly thank you and your friends for stopping us; I don't know if I could have lived with myself if anything had happened to those innocent people." Yeah, and I'm Peter Pan; come on Will, there's no way you believe this tubby fool, after everything he did! One apology can't be the cut for forgiveness; it just can't. Will's looking at the ceiling as if it's going to tell him what to do. Come on, ceiling, don't disappoint me.

"I forgive you, man." Okay; I understand that the hippy has had a lot of influence on him, but forgiving Speed? That's just too far. Principal Power's is leading a handcuffed Lash to his locker, and Lash gives Speed a not-so-friendly shove as he walks by. It's disgusting how concerned Will looks; don't feel pity for the guy who tried to ruin your life! "Did you two get in a fight?" Speed looks so sincere it's hard to believe he's not a villain.

"It's just that as soon as we got into our cells Lash and Sue started plotting another attack; a revenge type thing, but me and Penny didn't want to help, so we're both kind of… out of favor. Sue will be in jail for the rest of her second life, and Penny is living somewhere in Canada with her grandmother." Yet another reason I shouldn't be a hero; I would have already tried – albeit in vain – to take him down, assuming that he's lying his chubby face off. But role model Will listens to everything before deciding what to do. Maybe there's a course on it: How to be a hero that actually does stuff right. I'd sign up in a minute.

"Hey Jake, are you coming?" I quickly hurry to catch up and officially meet Speed as I put a few things in my empty locker. He's actually a really nice guy. Unfortunately, the rest of the group doesn't know this, and from the cafeteria entrance I can see all their smiles fade not so subtly.

"Why is Speed with you?" Of course Mrs. I've-never-heard-of-tactfulness is the one to ask while she twirls a strand of purple hair. She asks it in that I-don't-give-a-crap-about-anyone's-feeling's-cause-I'm-just-that-hardcore tone of voice that she probably developed as a small child; her voice reminds me of one of those ugly skinhead hit-man thugs.

"Magenta!" Will says her name in a whiny, pleading tone of voice that is somehow partly a whisper. "Would it kill you to be a little friendlier?" After a straight faced nod from the 'goth,' Will continues, obviously giving up on the idea of his friends welcoming the ex-villain. "Speed is here because he is going to eat lunch with us today. I know you guys probably heard through the gape vine that…"

""The grape vine, what is this, an Archie comic?"

"…that Speed and Lash are back, but it's all okay now." Will finishes, ignoring Magenta's mean comment number two.

"Well why isn't he eating with Lash?" Ethan's voice is laced with bitterness – I'm guessing he was the one who got 'welcomed' by the swirly… every day.

"Look you guys – I am so sorry for what I did last year, I just…"

"Don't take all the credit, fatty." Everyone's heads are turning towards where the cold voice is coming from. "Yeah, I know I'm supposed to be in detention, but what can I say… I'm not really one for rules, besides its cold in there." I'm already wishing I had convinced Anna and Kelly to let me stay at Sea School. Crap, he's looking at me. "Who's the newbie?"

"That newbie is my twin brother Jake." Oh my goodness, Zach; why don't you come over and wipe my mouth whilst you're at this whole motherly thing.

Lash looks amused, and I can feel myself start to wince. "He looks like the opposite of you." …okay, kudos to him for not asking 'the questions' but still. It's funny – if I didn't know him… or, know of him, I'd think he's just some emo kid who sings in an angsty boy band… although I'd still bet money he is. Everyone's staring at me, and there's this terrible feeling in my stomach that's telling me I did something wrong.

Lash is smirking like he's so cool for not being affected. "Actually I'm the bass player." Oh crap. "Anyway, I'd better get going." Yikes; well, other than the fact that I just blurted out a semi-insult to a villainous grade eleven repeat with power issues, I think that went well. Now everyone believes that Speed's over his villain phase. Of course my paranoia has already kicked in and I am freakishly nervous about him, so I think I'll leave – wander the halls until class starts and hope I don't get beat up before my first day is over. But I have a good feeling about this school; I think it'll be differe…

"Hey newbie!" …and I spoke too soon. Do I have a sign taped to my back that says 'I live for being harassed'? I mean come on! Sure my self esteem is low but I'm not masochistic or anything. Of course I pull the dumb-newbie-can't-hear-you; it never works but I find that as my wit flies out the window along with my composure and that last scrap of dignity, its appeal increases. Of course there is a dramatic decrease when I'm getting my ass kicked, but hey, what can you do? …it's funny, I'm so used to Zach answering my obviously rhetorical questions I find myself waiting for the 'well, you can…' "Newbie – quit ignoring me when I talk to you…" The frightening bully stopped speaking when I turn around, and he had a kind of scared look on his face… so naturally I check behind me to see if some actually intimidating people are behind me – there aren't. Shooting him a puzzled look, I lift my eyebrow, telling him with those short black hairs that I would love an explanation. And of course the one and only time I would like to have a coherent two way conversation with the customer of the year at Big and Tall, he runs away. My distrust, dislike, and distain for strangers passes my wit, composure, and dignity as they trade places on either side of the window that is my current flow of emotions as I turn to a group of oblivious Shakespeare obsessed teens sitting outside the drama room, obviously destroyed mentally and 'spiritually' by the fact that it's locked.

"What's with him?" Their faces pale when I see me – this is getting frustrating. "Okay, not that I'm not psyched that for once in my life I am not the poster child for school bully victims, but why the hell is everyone looking at me like my Prozac got stolen?" The shrimpy guy with the fire hydrant inspired hair color starts to stutter, making me even angrier. "Listen Nancy, as much as I would love to sit here all night discussing the outrageous things Romeo and Juliet had to do just to prove their love for one another… it would be even better if you just spit it out."

A girl who appeared to be a strange mix of butch and willowy answered my question. "It's just that like, someone said that you're like, friends with like, Lash – like, his childhood friend or something. And he like, went to jail." She whispered the last part as if it was some big secret or… wait, Lash!

"Where did you hear that?" I can't help the high pitched squeak in my voice.

"Umm, I think I like, read it on my friend like, blog or something." Butch willow replied unsteadily. Crap; I would rather be shoved in a locker than thought to be the friend of an emo villain! I've got to find Zach. Of course my three dis' about strangers come sliding right back in as the 'window' closes, and – so as to avoid terrifying and terrified looks from said random strangers – I go into painful shadow form and crouch/walk along the walls to the cafeteria and rematerialize under the table where Zach is still sitting.

"Will, are you playing footsies with me?"

"…no." Crap, now Zach thinks he's being hit on by a queer super human prodigy. I quickly come up trough the space between the bench and table – a small plus of being dangerously thin – and put my head down on the table; I'll have to work on not needing to pass out every time I power up for more than two minutes.

"No offense Will, but I'm reeeally not unto you like that." Layla is shooting him a bad look while I peak out from under my arm. "I swear Layla, he did; Jake, you saw it right?" I shake my head, but because it's still in the nest that is my arms and on the table it just ends up being me hitting both sides of my head on the table and screaming in pain while the goff – pretty sure her name is purple, or some variation thereof – pats me awkwardly on the back. "Hey wait a minute, you weren't here before!" Zach says this like he's such a genius for realizing that I just showed up.

"Zach, I've got a bigger dilemma." I say as I lift up my head – slowly so I don't pass out (Sheldon taught me that one.)

"Yeah right, bigger than the son of the famous Commander and Jetstream being gay?" I honestly cannot believe I'm so closely related to this kid.

"Maybe not, but it's a close second – there's a rumor going around that I'm friends with Lash." All four mouths drop open. Oh wait, Ethan is melted on his seat… but I'm pretty sure his mouth is open too."

"Are you?" Purple asks me in that disturbingly low I'm-so-bad-ass-even-though-I'm-not-really voice of hers. I swear this girl is going to give me nightmares. The closest thing to a glare I can muster is – thankfully – enough to shut her up. Layla looks at me in that motherly way – just like everyone else – and finally speaks up.

"Just ignore them, no one believes rumors anyways." Wow, this girl is daft.

"What's the rumor?" That kid who looks like he's thirty has just joined the table.

"Everyone thinks Jake is friends with Lash." Zach says quickly, obviously thrilled to be able to say it before anyone else. He looks at me like he's crushing my soul with his eyes… and I think he very well could. "But he isn't." Zach adds as he realizes the thirty year old is shooting death glares at me. He calms down a little bit starts reading his book. Funny that he's the only one not eating. I'm still beyond tired from the mornings 'activities' so I put my head back in my arms and on the table.

"Are you dying or something?" Oh god, someone shut her up. "You're always using that inhaler or collapsing or having panic attacks."

"Are you secretly male or something?" I probably shouldn't be talking. "You're always talking like a man and dressing like the thirty year old."

"…I'm seventeen." The apparently not thirty year old says. I don't think anyone really paid attention… I know I didn't. I'm afraid if I take my eyes off her she'll sink her fangs into me. Luckily just before she can the bell rings.

"Okay I'm going to class, Warren, Jake come on lets go, have a good class everyone, we'll see you later, bye!" Will is rambling as he grabs me arm and pulls me away, lifting me off the ground without realizing it. 'Warren' is close behind and I can tell he's fighting a smile by the awkward situation that is me being carried down the hall by a kid shorter than me. He stops short to wait for Warren. "What's so funny?" He asks genuinely – this kid couldn't do fake if his life depended on it – although with his brains I doubt he could spell it either. Warren nods his head in my direction and Will quickly lets me down, his face turning red. "Oh… sorry." He mutters as we continue down the hallway to the next class, which was hero math, a seemingly pointless class where we learned the percentage that our sidekicks will live in various scenarios – pretty depressing actually. If taking down a giant robot, my sidekick would probably have about a whopping 45 chance of living; and I translate that to my sidekick and I both having a 45 chance because lets face it, hiding 'ain't gonna save me from no one.


	3. The sweet sound of abject approval

I was beyond thankful when the bell rang signaling the end of school, I practically sprinted out the door and to my locker, opening it on the third try – yes! – And then down to Zach's locker. Of course by the time I got to Zach's locker I was about to pass out, but he was holding out a paper bag before I even got there, and I quickly took a few breaths from it to calm myself down.

"Jake, you've got to be more careful – Sheldon will kill me if you faint before we even walk through the front door."

"I know, I know – I just really want to get home." It feels so good to be able to say that – that I want to go home. I think about it as we walk to and board the bus. The last couple of homes we were at weren't really the greatest. Mostly people who had like, fourteen other foster kids and were obviously only in it for the money. I still can hardly believe Kelly and Anna liked us so much they adopted us. There must have been a really good sales pitch. I can picture it – like that creepy mirror from Shrek. "And here we have awkward adolescent number 44970, twin brother of 43527. This little bundle of sarcasm will have you tearing out your hair before he even opens his mouth. He enjoys arguments, pill popping, and staying indoors to perfect his albino inspired skin tone."

"Dude, what are you laughing at?" The sound of Zach's voice shakes me from my little daydream. Even the hippie is frowning.

"Yeah Jake, that elderly woman almost died – it's not funny."

"It wasn't that, it was… never mind." They know I've got issues, but explaining to them that I was busy daydreaming about the mirror on a cartoon telling potential foster parents about my less than lovely personality… they might call the you-know-who to come and you-know-what. They start on a new topic, but before I can even act like I'm paying attention, Zach is saying goodbye and dragging me off the bus. He asks why I was laughing as we cross the driveway, and I reluctantly tell him, hoping with all my might he won't freak out too. I know Zach well, but his friends make me uncomfortably unsure about him sometimes.

"Dude, that's hilarious! Why didn't you tell everyone that?" Zach is laughing so hard he can hardly talk, and of course I start laughing too.

"Hey guys, how was school?" Sheldon asks us as we walk in the front door. He looks at us suspiciously and Zach explains it to him too, and then we all laugh even harder. I feel like I'm in the Brady Bunch. It takes a few minutes before we can stop laughing, and we're all stand there wiping the tears from our eyes and catching out breath when Kelly and Anna waltz in, obviously just returning from tennis.

"Good afternoon boys, how was school?" Anna asked as she graceful hugged each of us.

"It was alright, I made hero." I spoke with a surprising amount of pride, but I guess I don't usually get to speak of any 'accomplishments' other than negative test results from the doctor… and even those are rare.

"That's great Jake!" Kelly said a little too enthusiastically, realizing his mistake and backtracking almost immediately. "Not that there's anything wrong with being a sidekick. Now we have a little variety; anyways, Anna and I are going for dinner tonight and figured you boys probably wouldn't want to come, so why don't you invite a few friends over?" I still can't believe they are so cool about stuff like this, but I don't have anyone to invite.

"Awesome, I'll call Ethan and Maj." Zach is almost glowing as he reaches for the phone and starts dialing memorized numbers.

Kelly and Anna stared expectantly at me long enough for me to feel like I had to mention somebody. "Yeah, I'll call… Lash."

"Oh that's great sweetie, you made a friend today?" I am so lucky Zach didn't hear me. I'm a terrible liar, so I nod my head and leave the room so quickly I'm almost running. What am I going to do? I can't very well not invite anyone and then have Kelly and Anna come home to find me by myself, I can't lie and say that he left early, I can't hang out with Zach's friends – not that he would mind, I just can't stand them. Already knowing it's going to be an awkward phone call, I pick up the phone and call 1-800-SKY-HIGH. I really hope their closed, but just as I'm about to hang up, the secretary's chirpy voice comes loud through the phone.

"Sky High Secondary School."

"Uh hi, I'm a student at Sky High, and I'm looking for the number of a friend of mine, is there any chance you could look it up for me?"

"Can I ask your name please?"

"It's Jake, Jake Switch."

"Oh right, you're the transfer student who came in with Will Stronghold today! Who would you like me to look up?"

"Umm, Lash."

The chirp is gone. "One moment." I'm so glad I'm not doing this in person, cause that would have been unbearably awkward and silent, whereas now I have the annoyingly mechanical 'hold' tune playing, pretty much a repetitive keyboard solo that was probably composed by a group of four year olds arguing over who got to press which keys. Luckily, it doesn't take her very long, but her voice is still far from friendly. I should have just dialed 412 – super information... although I guess I don't know his last name. "Got a pen?" I make the closest sound to a 'yep' I can muster and she continues with the number, hanging up before I even have a chance to respond. Note to self, never tell a secretary you want to contact a student who previously tried to destroy the school while the staff and students were inside ready to be turned into super villain babies. With shaky fingers I dial the number that cost me a potential friend – yes, I am lame enough to consider a secretary a potential friend – and secretly hope no one is home, even though I went through all that trouble and horrible awkwardness.

"Hello?" Crap! I guess I'm lucky in a twisted way that Lash didn't answer the phone, but the overly apparent slur in the voice tells me it's not anyone better.

"Uh, hi… is, is Lash there?" Stutter more, why don't you!

"Jus' a sec. LASH!" Oh dear that was loud. After a few more moments of screaming I hear someone say 'calm down, I got it!'

"Hello?" Oh lord, should I just hang up now? Pretend it was a wrong number?

"Hi, it's Jake." I'm digging my own grave, I just know it.

"…okay."

"Look, I know this is kind of weird, but my parents are going out tonight and Zach's hideously annoying friends are coming over and I'm supposed to invite someone so here I am inviting you even though I know you hate me and would probably rather dunk my head in a toilet or stuff me in a locker, I still kind of have to ask; and by the off chance you're feeling a little less than evil and want to say yes, you could even ignore me and go to a different wing." Oh lord, that was even overwhelming to me. Pretty sure I'm buying my plane ticket tonight and getting the hell out of this town. There's a long pause and I'm just about to hang up when I hear his slightly amused, not in any way reluctant, voice.

"Sure." …? What!? Not only did he say a small variation of the actual word yes, but he said it with… a chuckle? This must be a different Lash, it couldn't be the one I've seen.

"Seriously?" I can't help it; I honestly don't believe it's him.

"Yeah, just give me directions." S-P-E-E-C-H-L-E-S-S!

"Umm, I can get the... umm, limo to come and umm, get you, if you umm, want."

"A limo, what are you, some sort of Beverly Hills playboy?" HE SAID A JOKE!

I attempt to laugh a little before clarifying. "Uh, no; I mean, it's just that my parents are kind of… well off, I guess."

"Alright then, I'm at 4998 Kibbich."

"Okay, Ben will come get you in ten minutes; see you… then." As soon as I hang up I run to grab my inhaler and take a few puffs. God I am so pathetic. You'd think I was just talking to a super model or something! But no, it was a sixteen year old villain who's coming over to watch movies! Can you tell I've never had friends! Yeah, no question mark, as that was obviously rhetorical.

"Hey Jake, most of the gang is here, you want to come watch movies with us?"

"Uh, no thanks." I really hope I don't tell him that Lash is coming, but lately I have very little control of my motor skills.

"Oh come on Jake, you can't honestly say you want to spend the night in your room. Come down and socialize for once."

"I invited Lash over, he'll be here in ten minutes." It's taking Zach a few minutes to realize what I said, but I said it pretty fast and with my mouth covered by my hands, so I can't say I blame him. Oh, and plus also there's the small fact of I said I invited Lash over! Yeah, I think he's got it now; he surprisingly doesn't look mad, but I think this is worse. He kind of looks like I stabbed him in the metaphorical back with an equally metaphorical fork covered in metaphorical rust. Oh man I feel so bad; but I'd feel even worse if I called up Lash and told him that the plans were cancelled, I mean come one, that would just be plain rude… and even more awkward than the invitation was.

"Oh." His lack of emotion stung even more that words would have. I still don't see why it's such a big deal though – I mean, the kid was reformed enough to be let back into school, and he should be happy that I'm at least making an effort, which is more than I've ever done before. He's totally overreacting, I deserve to have friends, and Lash deserves a second chance. "Okay then." A little guilt comes back in as he walks out the door, but I push it aside quickly, remembering that I need to ask Ben to go pick up Lash. When I'm at the top of the staircase I check quickly to make sure Sheldon isn't nearby before sliding down the banister, awkwardly passing that Warren kid on my way down; that guy freaks me out more than Lash and Speed do, so there.

"Hey Ben, would you mind picking up a friend of mine?" He looks slightly shocked, but I guess it's to be expected considering I, literally, never have friends over, let alone send a limo to pick them up. But still, he smiles and nods while I hand him a piece of paper on which I wrote the address to Lash's house. I figure I should let Ben go alone; I'll set up a bit – get a movie ready or something. Ben (I say…er, think his name way too much) gives a slight chuckle as I explain this all to him.


	4. I make plans to break plans

"You're pretty nervous, aren't you kiddo?"

"Kind of, I've never really had anyone over."

"I'm sure it'll be great. Any kid you choose to invite must be gold." He starts to walk away and I feel the urge to go up and bear hug him… but fortunately I manage to refrain – a good decision, considering he's seventy three years old and has arthritis. Instead I walk into the kitchen and wait for Sheldon to come in; maybe he has some good snack foods… and advice. Hopefully both, as I'm clueless in every department.

"Hey Jake, what's up?"

"Having a friend over – I know, shocking, but I was wondering if you had any food that I could… present, or whatever it is you do."

"Sure thing, buddy, I actually have a few extra trays, a few of Zach's friends couldn't make it." My mouth actually drops open when he brings out two trays of… food? Man oh man; there's popcorn, like, three types of chips, licorice, and about seven varieties of chocolates and gummies. Sheldon chuckles at my still open mouth, and it takes me a few minutes still to shut it. "And as far as the movie goes, I recommend Fast and the Furious 2, seeing as there's a good chance he hasn't seen it, and it's just an all around kick ass movie. And you've seen the first one, because we watched it at your dad's birthday a few months ago. You liked it, remember?"

"Right… can I get the second one?"

"Kid, you better get used to being rich. You have a hotel setup, so you can rent movies on your TV that haven't come out yet. Come on, I'll show you." We each grab a tray and Sheldon leads the way up the stairs and into my TV room – mine's set up like a mini theatre, with a big TV and a bunch of bean bag chairs with a few coffee tables here and there – setting the trays down on two of the tables, Sheldon and I walk over to the remote cabinet and he grabs the remote, expertly presses a few buttons, and finishes explaining to me how to pick out and rent whichever movie I choose – which will probably be the one he recommended. Just after he leaves I hear a small cough in the general direction of the doorway; it's Lash. I smile awkwardly and say hello the best I can without stuttering.

"You're house is insane, man. You have this whole floor to yourself?"

"Well, this half is mine and the other half is Zach's." He whistles, and I feel a little bit more confident about this whole 'having friends' thing as he walks through the door and looks around. "Dude, how on earth did you get all this in here?" He motions toward the various food and beverage machines and I can't help but laugh. When we first moved in, Kelly and Anna had us draw up a few rooms we'd like, and I went all out on mine, not knowing it would become a reality. I put in nacho, popcorn, soda, and candy machines that were all free, of course; cause who wants to pay for food in their own house?

"I designed the room when we first got here; anyways, what movie do you want to watch?" I bring up the menu without making any mistakes – thankfully.

"Woah, these aren't even out yet." I nod slightly, and hope he picks one that won't give me nightmares. "Hey, have you seen fast and the furious 2?"

"Not yet, but I really want to – should we get that one?" Lash nods and walks over to a bean bad, plopping himself down and lazily grabbing a handful of popcorn. I follow Sheldon's instructions and almost sigh with relief when the movie starts to play. Of course, instead I sit in a bean bag near Lash and grab a handful of whichever bowl was nearest to me, which happened to be chips. Yep, I think I could definitely get used to this.

"Jake?" I'm woken by the sound of Zach's timid voice. I have no idea what time it is; but I think Lash is still here… yep, he's sleeping in the other bean bag chair. "Jake, why is Lash still here?" He walks over slowly and is helping me up; the screen is black and I can tell it must be either really late in the evening or really early in the morning.

"What time is it?"

"Buddy, it's almost time to leave for school." Oh lord; this is going to be slightly awkward. I really don't want to wake him up and risk getting severely injured; but if I just leave him there and go to school I'll just be postponing the injuries… and if I leave a note it'll seem like a one night stand… and that would be horribly disturbing. Zach elbows me lightly in the ribs and I figure he expects me to wake up the… guest. Try to think positively, Jake; we had fun last night, he was friendly, made some jokes, had some fun. Yeah, I'm sure it'll be totally fine. Let's just walk over and…

"Hey, Lash." Oh man, I actually didn't stutter.

He's rolling over slowly. "Oh woah, what time is it?" I grab Zach's wrist and look at the time.

"Its quarter to eight, man; we gotta leave in like, fifteen minutes." He doesn't look all that alarmed… which alarms me.

"Oh… weird; you think I could borrow a shirt?" I turn around slowly to ask Zach if Terry, our maid, is up yet, but he's taken the opportunity to sneak out the other door. I mumble a 'yeah' and motion for him to follow me down the hallway. "Sorry about that, by the way; what time did I fall asleep?"

"Long after me." I say with a chuckle as I turn into my room and then into my closet.

"This is your closet?" I feel like kind of a girl with a closet so big, but hey, it's useful. I motion for him to pick a shirt and I quickly grab a dark red one for myself, walking quickly into one of the bathrooms to change. I wonder if he'll keep on the striped shirt… I heard he's never seen without it on. I decide to brush my teeth and wash my face while I'm in there, to avoid walking in too early. Taking a quick look at the clock I realize I'd better get down soon, Sheldon's probably already laid out my breakfast. I walk out of the bathroom and – luckily – Lash is finished getting changed. He's wearing one of my Ramones shirts, with his sleeves underneath. I motion for him to follow me once again and we slide down the banister to the main hallway and through to the kitchen where, sure enough, my tray is waiting; and of course all knowing Sheldon has put a tray beside mine with pancakes, bacon, and orange juice. Lash lets out yet another whistle and says hello to Sheldon.

Sheldon ponders for a few moments before saying "Hey, I recognize you…"

"Yeah… I'm one of the four students who tried to take over Sky High last year." Lash is starting to wince slightly and I can tell he's really hoping Sheldon won't say anything; but I know he won't. The guy's done more jail time that anyone else I know, and wouldn't dare ruin a potential friend for me, as pathetic and nerdy as that sounds.

"Oh yeah, which jail were you in?"

"Uh, Maxville high security for supers… why?"

"I've been in there a few times, it's a lot nicer than the prisons for non supers. What's your power?"

Lash seems a little overwhelmed. "I stretch." Sheldon seems fairly impressed. "You?"

"I can shoot heat rays from my eyes." Yeah, ever wonder how cooks things so fast?

"Nice – these are awesome pancakes, by the way; thanks." It's kind of surprising how civil Lash can be. "Hey Jake, what's with all the pills." I look down and see that one extra has been added to the pile; what the crap? I shoot Sheldon a funny look – I don't think I've been in for any tests recently, but I guess there's something else wrong.

"Jake has quite a few health problems; the fourteenth one is four your calcium deficiency, the doctor sent them over yesterday, sorry kid." I can hear Lash muttering something that sounds almost sympathetic, but I really get uncomfortable when Sheldon or Zach tells people about all my 'deficiencies.' It's not my fault, so there's no reason to feel bad; all that can be done is being done.

"Yeah, no big deal." I put my hand out while looking at Lash and feel Sheldon place the warm mug in my hand, placing one on the counter for Lash before walking over to Zach – who is, once again, looking through his backpack – and placing the money in his hand. I walk over and grab my bag, autopilot starting to switch on.

"That's quite a routine you've got going on." He says, chuckling slightly.

"Yeah; we'd better get going or else we'll miss the bus." Zach has a slightly bitter tone in his voice, but he'll get over it.

"Oh yeah, Lash, do you want to borrow a bag?"

"You have spares? Wait, dumb question; sure, that'd be great." I lead the way to Kelly's office, where he's sitting, sipping his coffee and typing elegantly – I didn't know you could type elegantly, but I can't think of any other word to describe it, it's like he's pressing down on little clouds or something. I knock on the inside of the door quietly and he looks up and smiles.

"Hey there Jake, what can I do for you?"

"Hey Kelly – do you have any spare bags Lash could use for today?"

Kelly ponders a moment before speaking. "I think we do, let's go take a look." He motions for us to follow him to a room just past his office; it's his personal office supply store. I hear Lash quietly say 'you've got to be kidding me' and feel a small smile creep its way onto my face. The house and everything in it is nothing short of overwhelming, but I guess you get used to living a charmed life, no matter how things were before… although I guess most people are born into families like this.

"The back shelf there has school supplies, go ahead and pick a few things; and have a good day today."

Lash speaks as soon as the door closes and we head towards the back wall. "So that's your dad?"

I hesitate for a moment; I'm not really used to that word. "Yeah, yeah he is." I feel pretty blessed to be able to say that word so proudly, but I think I deserve it after all these years. Lash finds a messenger bag similar to mine but with black and white stripes as opposed to my black and white checkers. We run through, quickly grabbing the necessities; binder, notebooks, paper, pencils, eraser, sharpener, ruler, calculator – and are out the door before three minutes is up. I wave to Kelly on our way past and we slide down the banister once more, almost bumping into the impatiently waiting Zach.

"What took you guys so long, we have to go!" He grabs my wrist and once again, we practically jog to the end of the driveway, Lash having no trouble keeping up with us – lucky kid with his long legs. We stop at the gate and I shut it while Zach runs towards the bus and heads moodily to the middle section where his friends are. Of course when Lash and I get on the bus everyone goes quiet and looks at us as if we have chainsaws in our hands. Lash leads the way to the back of the bus and I sit down next to him awkwardly. I have a funny feeling that I'm the only one who's nervous about this whole situation, but I can hardly hear my conscience screaming at me over the loud 'whispers' I'm hearing from all around us.

"Oh my gosh, I told you that new kid was a villain."

"Yeah, I didn't think he actually hung out with Lash."

"I heard they're planning revenge on the school." Oh dear; the last thing I want is for people to start thinking I want revenge… on a school; specifically, a school full of people who can and would kick my ass, probably resulting in a panic attack and possibly brain aneurism. I look over to Lash and see that he is chuckling slightly, obviously aware of the situation but either immune to it or… or Lash really is cooler than I thought.

"Don't worry about it, they'll be whispering about someone else by the end of the day." Alright then, a combination of both. "Hey, are you busy tonight?" I shake my head no; I haven't been busy since I was eight years old. "Awesome; my band's playing tonight at this place downtown, you should come check it out – see if we're really as emo as I make us seem."

I can feel my face turn as red as it can – considering the absolute lack of color it naturally contains – as I remember the day I accidentally blurted out my first impression of the extendible villain I am starting to think of as my friend. "Yeah, that sounds pretty cool." I try hard to appear calm and cool, as if I get asked to go see bands at 'some place downtown' all the time, but I can tell I'm not doing a very good job, as Lash has started laughing once again. I have to admit, his laugh kind of creeps me out, it sounds so… cruel, like a villain in a movie, cackling away at some horrendous thing that they've caused while innocent heroes are on the phone being told of where to go to stop the evil… yeah… I'll stop now; that was awkward, even in my head.

"Cool, we're meeting after school at that coffee shop in the mall and we'll walk down and set up, you can to come early." Sweet, now I can even be a groupie! …er, never mind.


	5. eternity will never be enough

I am dreading lunch even more than I was yesterday – I feat I didn't think possible until I realized that this lunch, I had a choice of who to sit with; my brother and his lame friends, or Lash… yeah, did I mention I'm dreading it?

"Hey Jake, wait up!" Oh snap, it's Zach – I really hope he doesn't mention anything about lunch. "It's about lunch." Perfect. "Will is taking all of us to Canada for lunch, do you want to come?" Oh thank goodness – I so have an excuse for this one, and it's beyond believable; although I have always wanted to go to Canada.

"I don't know, flying all the way to Canada?" I try to look as nervous as I possibly can; like I'm having the most intense internal battle. "No, I better stay here on semi-solid ground. But how are you guys going to get back? Ron Wilson said that the location of the school is always moving and 'only available to a handful of highly qualified individuals'.

"I did say Will, didn't I?" Right, I forgot – how, no idea – that Will is practically worshipped at this school. "And we spent most of last night trying to figure out where it rotates. We figure that by lunch time it'll be almost floating right above Canada, so we'll have no trouble with the time part of it, I just hope we aren't bugged for autographs the whole time."

"… and by that you mean Will be bugged for autographs the whole time."

"Yeah pretty much." Zach replies without missing a beat, something I always find awesome about having a twin; whatever I am thinking, Zach's usually thinking the exact opposite. Even our likes and dislikes are opposite; I like vanilla, he likes chocolate, I like salty things, he likes sweet things, he likes pop, I like… tea. Anyways, about something different… "Well, I'll bring you a postcard or something. Do you think Kelly and Anna would want something from Canada?"

"Zach, need I remind you that they have billions of dollars aside specifically for things like that? Besides, the story of you guys flying there during lunch is enough for them; they love hearing about things to do with our powers… or, Will Stronghold's powers." Zach nods in agreement and I continue to my second class, taking a seat beside Warren.

"Hey Jake." I still feel a little awkward around him considering yesterday I thought he was a thirty year old repeat.

"Hi Warren, how's it going?" He shrugs slightly in response, and is about to open his mouth when Mrs. Tex walks in and begins the lesson for today, explaining a partner project in which we will research one famous hero and one famous villain, both preferably deceased – cause you know, it's history. I immediately know what I want to research – my mother. I know quite a bit about her, but a ten year old can only get a hold of so much information, super related or not. Although it would be kind of awkward to explain to someone my whole 'foster parents' situation, but I guess I don't have to say that she was my mother.

"Jake, I'm pairing you up with... Dave." I look around the room to see everyone getting up to find whichever partner they were assigned to, but I wasn't paying enough attention to know who 'Dave' is. Once mostly everyone has paired up I see a kid sitting at a table with his head in his arms, possibly asleep… or crying. As awkward as the latter would be, something tells me he's simply catching up on sleep. I walk over slowly and sit down in – and by sit down in I mean trip in to – a chair beside him, jolting him out of his slumber. "You're Dave, right?" He looks up at me with squinted eyes, obviously slightly confused.

"Um, yeah; who are you?" His words are slightly slurred together, but caught the gist of them.

"I'm Jake; we're partners for the project." He's still displaying the same slightly confused, otherwise blank expression, and I realize it'd be much easier for me to explain it. "We have to research a dead super villain and super hero and do a big biography thing on them." He looks a little less confused now, and sits up in his chair, rubbing his eyes and yawning. He looks familiar, and when he sits up I see that he's just as pale as me, but has bleach blonde hair with dark brown chunks in it – overall, kind of like… Lash, actually, only a little bit more emo with his lip ring and eyeliner. I wonder if they've met.

"Do you have anyone in particular you want to research?" I love it when people ask questions you really want to answer.

"Actually, I was hoping we could research the super villain Mix." He does a sort of shrug/nod thing before speaking again.

"Could we do iron man?" Why am I not surprised; iron man was like, the most respected, valuable super hero there ever was. He was literally made of iron and indestructible; he killed many villains while he was still alive, but eventually died of… get this, food poisoning. After he died they discovered that while his outward body was indestructible, his heart wasn't. I wonder if he killed my mother; that was one of the many things not released to the super community, her killer. But no one cares who kills a villain, as long as their dead. I nod to Dave and we sit for a few moments waiting for the bell to ring.

"Boys, have you decided which hero and villain you'll be researching?"

"Mix and Iron man; is it okay that they died this century?" Mrs. Tex chuckles and nods before moving onto the next pair. "So, when are we going to research this?" This is the awkward part, if, when, and where we do the project. Dave appears to be thinking over his schedule and shrugs moments later.

"Most days are fine for me." I'm about to ask about today when I remember about Lash's band playing, and then start getting excited all over again. "Hey, what's your power?" Oh dear, here I go forgetting that we have these handy things; seeing as it's normally an unspoken rule to, when meeting someone for the first time, demonstrate your power and ask of the other's.

"I can turn into a shadow." I pause for a moment before demonstrating, trying to hide the pain as I materialize once again.

"Cool, must be nice to go unnoticed like that." I never really thought of it that way, but I guess it's like going invisible.

"What's your power?" Probably something much cooler than mine, all tough like iron man… I hope iron man isn't his dad.

"I can read and control people's emotions." He says it like it's a terrible thing, and I raise my eyebrow. "It isn't a bad thing, it just gets kind of tiring, cause I can't talk to someone without automatically knowing how they're feeling. People who are more open with their feelings especially, because in those cases I can read the thoughts that are causing whichever feeling they're experiencing. If I want to change someone's emotion for the better I have to absorb the previous emotion. So if you were feeling really sad right now and I made you happy, I would get all of your sad feelings, and eventually they build up." Oh wow; that's a pretty awesome power. I pause for quite a while, unsure of what to say. "Overwhelming, I know." Thankfully, the bell rings just then and I start walking towards my locker, Dave right beside me. We shoot each other slightly awkward looks before realizing that our lockers are across the hallway from each other. I wonder why I didn't see him yesterday.

"I just got here today, late start." …this will definitely take some getting used to. We walk towards the cafeteria, silently agreeing to sit together, or at least that's how it seems. We both get it line for hero sandwiches, surprisingly edible, and sit at a table near the corner. "Have you been going here since freshman year?" Finally a conversation topic!

"No, this is actually my first year; I went to Sea School before, but my brother's always gone here."

"You have a brother?" He sounds genuinely interested, and it almost makes me excited to start talking about my family.

"Yeah, he's my twin actually, his name is Zach; you have any brothers?"

"Nope, just me and my mom; but when I was younger I hung out with this one kid all the time, so he's like my brother." We continue with the family oriented small talk until Lash walks up and sits down next to Dave. "Hey Lash, what's up?" Lash mutters something quietly and Dave chuckles before taking another bite of food.

"Dave, this is the kid everyone thought was you yesterday." I shoot them both slightly confused looks and Lash clarifies. "I heard that yesterday everyone was saying you were the old friend of mine coming to Sky High this year, but its Dave." That explains a lot. I guess Dave was the younger equivalent of Speed. Speaking of Speed, I guess he must have gone with the Will Stronghold posse, as I don't see him anywhere. Although that's probably a good thing, considering he and Lash aren't really on the best of terms at the moment. But hey, attempted world domination can do that to friends.

"Yeah, me and Jake are doing a project in hero history." Lash nods knowingly.

"Oh, the villain/hero research thing? Yeah, I did that last year, pretty easy. Mrs. Tex gives good grades to everyone."

"Even kids who try to take over the school?" I ask teasingly; woah, I never really thought I'd be at the teasing level of friendship with this kid, but his – and Dave's – laughter confirms it. "Is Dave coming to the practice today?" I ask Lash as soon as the laughter has died down – I actually don't see how it was all that funny, but hey – I'll take what I can get.

"Actually Dave's the guitar player; and there's kind of an ulterior motive in inviting you… can you sing?" That was unexpected to say the least. But honestly, I have no idea if I can sing or not – I've never really tried. Zach says my voice is too whiny, but his even sounds overconfident and cocky, so there we go.

"Umm, I have no idea." Lash and Dave high five and I, once again, raise the eyebrow. I swear I'm going to start growing muscles in that one eyebrow if I keep this up, it's like an exercise. It takes them a few moments to realize I'm waiting for an explanation, but when they do Dave explains quickly.

"It's just that guys who sound like you and don't know if they can sing… usually can sing." I see… what do I sound like?

"…do I have to sing?" They both look up from their food; Dave's pierced mouth hanging open slightly.

"Yeah." They both say at once. "Or we'll make you get an embarrassing tattoo." Lash adds afterwards. We stay at the table for the rest of lunch hour, talking about music and… music. Zach and his friends showed up just before the bell rang, and luckily he didn't notice who I had chosen to sit with… although technically Lash had come to sit with us; although Zach would probably just remind me about the locker shoving, face dunking 'trauma' he and Ethan experienced because of Lash. The two blocks after lunch passed by so quickly I was almost suspicious, but nonetheless got my things from my locker and walked across – almost getting body slammed twice – to Dave's. He had a funny smile on his face, and I had a feeling he had something to do with the extremely short classes. I wait for him to get his things out and lock his locker, and while we make our way to Lash's he spills.

"There's this nerdy kid in my math class after lunch that has the power of time change; I made him feel extremely impatient and a little angry, so he sped up time." Dave is starting to laugh. "It was awesome, because the teachers don't suspect him, because he's such a goody goody." I start laughing to and before long it's the Brady Bunch scene all over again – and that's when I notice that Dave's laugh is exactly the same as Lash's – evil and slightly unnerving. We get to the aforementioned locker, and Lash immediately turns to Dave with a knowing smile.

"You are the man, Dave; that was awesome." Dave chuckles and the three of us make our way out to where the busses line up, and I realize that I'm going to have to mention to Zach that I'm not coming home with him. I tell Dave and Lash that I forgot something inside and run back into the school and straight to Zach's locker, where he's waiting with the paper bag.

"Jake seriously, you've got to slow down a little or Sheldon will kill me."

"Uh, I'm actually not coming home on the bus today…" He looks genuinely surprised. "I'm hanging out with Dave, a kid from my hero history, we're doing a project together that's going to be really hard and we're going to get a head start on it because it's such a big project and otherwise we won't be able to complete it on time and we'll fail the entire class because it's 30 of our entire grade." I finish rambling and hope that Zach doesn't realize how much of that was a lie; but luckily he simply nods and I walk until he's out of sight and then sprint out to the bus, narrowly missing the one I'm taking with Dave and… coughLashcough. I bring out the cell phone Anna and Kelly gave me and dial home.

"Hello?" It's Sheldon.

"Hey man, it's Jake; could you let Anna and Kelly know that I'm hanging out with some friends today?"

"Sure thing kiddo, when'll you be back?"

"Umm, not for a while, but I'll call Ben to come get me when I need to come back, alright?" Sheldon makes an agreeing sound and we both hang up. I'm sitting beside Lash near the back, with Dave and some other emo kid I don't recognize sitting in front of him. I elbow Lash lightly and motion towards the boy I don't know.

"Oh right, hey Casey, this is Jake – he'll probably be our new vocalist. Jake, this is Casey, our drummer." I say hi to Casey and demonstrate my power as soon as he asks, returning the question as I materialize once again. He laughs a little and runs a hand through his hair, making it appear even shaggier than it already is.

"I have a never ending energy flow; that's why I'm the drummer." I make a comment on how cool of a power that is, and before long we're at a mall in what appears to be downtown Maxville – I've never really been to this area – and Lash motions for me to get up and follow the other two out the door. We walk for a few minutes before coming to a small coffee shop where two other guys – a little more punk than emo – are waiting.

"Guys, this is Jake, Jake, this is Travis, another guitarist and Riley, the guy we're hoping you'll replace."

Riley laughs a little before speaking in a voice that is slightly similar to mine. "I'm moving." Oh good, that would have been really awkward had he been kicked out or something like that. "I'm a mind reader, by the way, and Riley can shoot water out his wrists; what's your power?"

"I can become a shadow." After two "cool, let's see's" from Travis and Riley, I once again go into shadow form; these two are even more amused, waving their hands over where my face would be and laughing as if it's completely hysterical. I once again become solid and we continue walking until we reach a small building that is quite colorfully decorated… with graffiti. We walk inside and Dave explains that it's abandoned, but they hold battle of the bands there once a year, and they use it for practice. I'm taken aback when we walk inside, it's huge! It's like a real concert stage, with rows and rows of chairs – all brand new. We all walk towards the stage and climb up. Dave and Travis tune their guitars while Lash, Riley, and Casey get everything set up and I stand their dumbfounded like a complete idiot. Before long they're all set up and have started playing an unfamiliar song.

"I'll sing this one so you can get the gist of it and give it a try, okay?" I nod and hop off the stage and into one of the chairs near the front. Before too long Riley starts to sing.

"Father I've sinned, over and over and over and over again, Sorry my friends, I'm such a mess; I'm doing the best I can. She says 'where you going, where you been?' she says 'I don't want you hanging out with them', she leaves like she's never coming back again, on and on... it goes on and on yeah!" By the end of the song my eyes were wider than they had ever been before. I wouldn't dare ask if it's a cover, but am secretly hoped Riley will read my mind and answer the question.

"You think you're ready to try?" Lash asked, beckoning me up to the stage. I hop on, getting more nervous by the second. I start rambling some excuse, but Lash shakes his head. "Do you want to get a horribly embarrassing tattoo?" He says it in a joking tone of voice, but I can tell they're really hoping I'll do this… and not completely suck.

"Okay." I say reluctantly as I step up towards the microphone. We start at a different point in the song, and I feel my voice shaking as I sing the first line. "Mother I've tried, over and over and over to open my eyes; look at my life, tell me when did I die, cause I'm not alive. Skip through the script and tell me what it says, skip through the story tell me how it ends, she says that we're probably better off as friends on and on, it goes on and on yeah!" The chorus is much easier to sing with Lash and Dave screaming along with me, and them not stopping me hopefully means that I'm not too horrible, but there's no way to tell. By the end of the song my throat is getting sore, but I have to admit, it feels good to yell like that.

"Dude, that was awesome!" Oh thank goodness. Not that I'd mind having a less than fabulous voice, but it would make things extremely awkward if they were to say 'yeah… you're… not….too…terrible' in that high pitched kind of voice that is a dead giveaway that you're lying. Anyways, that didn't happen, so there's no need to worry. We practice the song a few more times, some with Riley and I both singing, some just me. After the practice is over Riley, Travis and I help the others pack everything up and set it in the back. "So I lied… we aren't playing tonight, but we are this Friday – you should come, we'll introduce you as our new singer, cause Riley's moving this weekend." I'm so overwhelmed all I can do I nod my head enthusiastically as I pull out my cell phone to call Ben; I need to go home and take some aspirin.


End file.
